As one of the most popular movie franchises of all time, it stands to reason that for decades Star Wars has been a popular birthday party theme.  If you’re planning a party for the Jedi knight in your life, here is an idea you absolutely must add to your to-do list!  Mikie, mother of a 6-year-old Star Wars fanatic, designed a printable napkin wrap to make her silverware rolls look like lightsabers for his birthday celebration.  She shares the printable for free at Catch My Party.  (Also be sure to check out Mikie’s adorable R2D2 cup tutorial!)   [how to make lightsaber silverware rolls]

Project estimate:

• Napkins, $1 and up
• Plastic utensils, $1 and up
• Printable  napkin wraps, free
• Paper, on hand
• Tape, on hand

Total:  $2 and up

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Handmade Children’s Star Wars Costumes

Darth Vader Princess Costume by mayamagination on Craftster

By far the world’s cutest Darth Vader costume! This made me laugh out loud (joyfully) when I saw it. Love, love, love.

I was inspired by other images I had seen on the net of Darth Vader girl costumes, and thought what a perfect costume for my little girl! A combo of her favourite things! Pink, tutus, tiaras, and Star Wars!

Clone Armor and Yoda’s Little Sister (from here)

The author said: My kids both love Star Wars! I made Tristan his clone armor and Josie bacame Yoda’s little sister.

Sidenote: I love that she’s Yoda’s Little Sister, and also, I have a Yoda hat tutorial (not the same as in this photo, by the way)

Jawa Star Wars Costume (from here)

This is a great budget costume, and even uses some things you can get at the dollar store (battery operated tealights, gloves), and it was no-sew!

The creator says: Attached is a photo of my son as a Jawa from Star Wars. This is a homemade costume that my wife and I made for a whopping $7.60. It consists of burlap, a sheer black material, battery operated tea light candles (for eyes) and black gloves. Everything else we had including the belts, holster, pouches, and black sock (to cover arms). The whole costume was put together with a glue gun.

X-wing fighter pilot Luke costume (from here)

I like that this costume is less common than some of the other Luke iterations. Plus, you could go as Wedge Antilles if you wanted.

Yoda Kid Costume (from here)

High quality craftsmanship this has.  Impressive the Yoda hat is

The creator said: My son loves Star Wars, and LOVES Yoda, and I didn’t like the store bought ones, so I made my own!

Princess Leia Toddler Costume (from here)

Princess Leia has never looked so sweet!

The creator said: We did a Star Wars themed Halloween this year, and our Princess made a perfect Leia. Yarn buns were perfect since she didn’t have enough of her own hair.

Darth Vader Homemade Costume at JGoode

Artist Jen Goode handmade her son’s Darth Vader costume, including the mask, which she made with papier-mache and cereal boxes.

Speaking of handmade Star Wars headgear, Lindsey from Filth Wizardry made this incredible stormtrooper mask from recycled milk jugs!

Recycled Milk Jug Stormtrooper Mask

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A lot of people made Lego Minifig costumes this year, using a large variety of techniques. If you’re not up on your Lego jargon, a minifig is the little Lego guy.

Handmade Lego Minifig Costumes

Lego Star Wars Minifig Luke Costume (from here)

This looks like it’s hand-sewn with reinforcements in all the right places (boning, plastic canvas or cardboard?) and worn over some long underwear. It’s one of the most impressive minifig costumes I’ve come across.

Lego Astronaut Minifig Costume (from here)

The specific minifigs (Astronauts, Star Wars, etc.) are my favorites, so I love seeing the human versions of them! This Astronaut minifig costume looks like it was made with cardboard, styrofoam, and acrylic paint, and I especially like the clever way the face was made (with posterboard?) – with plenty of room to see out of the mouth.

Classic Lego Minifig Costume (from here)

This Lego minifig costume is clean and sleek. The costume creator said: Lego man minifig costume made from cardboard, and a hatbox!

Brickbeard the Pirate Lego Minifig Costume (from here)

The creator of this costume said: My son loves anything Lego so this year we made a Brickbeard the Pirate Lego costume out of cardborad and styrofoam.

Special features on this Lego minifig costume are its amazing paint job, and the shiny finish on the minifig’s head. It looks perfect and Lego-y.

Legoboy Costume (from here)

If I made a Lego minifig costume, it would probably be like this. Recycled plastic container for the head (that’s my guess, anyway), duct tape-covered cardboard for the torso. Hand-held hands. Looks like it offers maximum mobility for a little guy.

A Trio of Lego Minifigs by katie08 on Craftster.

Katie made three minifig costumes by carving styrofoam and provided some great making-of photos:

The heads were the most work. The “stud” on top of the head, the neck and the top and bottom of the head were made out of carved styrofoam. We cut it with knives, then sanded the styrofoam. Then we covered it with drywall putty and let it dry. Then we sanded the dry wall putty for a smooth finish. We painted the pieces with yellow paint.

More detailed info about making these Lego minifig costumes here.

Lego Minifig Costume by Dollar Store Crafts Reader Shea at All Things Shea

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I have recently become highly amused with superfine crochet using the smallest of hooks and embroidery floss. I made this teeny Chewbacca (you know, from Star Wars!) zipper pull for a Star Wars swap. Crocheting with embroidery floss is great because it’s cheap, it comes in a huge rainbow of colors, and you don’t have to spend $3 and beyond to try a new color out. For less than a dollar in floss, you can be up and running. Plus, everything’s cuter when it’s teeny, right? This would be a fun back-to-school gift for a grade schooler.

Project Estimate:

• 1 skein of embroidery floss, $.25
• 1 small size crochet hook
• Scissors
• Scrap of leather (or felt) for his bandolier
• Jump ring (jewelry finding) and zipper pull, a few cents

Total: $.25 and up

There are two challenges in crocheting with embroidery floss. One, it’s small, so it’s a bit harder to work with, and to get a comfortable hand position and work flow. The good news is that it doesn’t take too long to adjust to the reduced scale. Two, the six strands of floss aren’t twisted together like yarn, so the individual strands can get caught in your work a lot more (see the little errant loops on Chewy’s legs). You can combat this by slightly twisting the floss with your index finger and thumb as you go. You can also pull out the offending stitches as you go and redo them, or pull the loops through your work to hide them.

I can’t give you the straight pattern for crocheting Chewy because I made him up as I went along, but I will give you a bunch of pointers gleaned from the process of making him.

Hook: My crochet hook was a steel hook, size 12 US (.70mm/size 5 UK). A hook a couple sizes larger would probably be fine!

Thread: I used variegated brown embroidery floss to crochet Chewbacca.

Amigurumi vs. Flat Crochet: I started with his body, and crocheted in the round, amigurumi style (amigurumi are crocheted dolls, usually crocheted in a continuous spiral in single crochet). I quickly discovered that for such a fine project, amigurumi is pretty difficult! This project would have been just as cute, easier, and quicker if I had just crocheted him flat.

Stitch to Use: To avoid having any holes in Chewy, you want to stick with single crochet. The good news is, you only need to know the most basic of stitches to make this guy!

Limbs: I used a chain stitch coming out from the shoulders to make the arms, and then came back up the chain stitch with single crochet to make the arms more substantial. I did the same for the legs, but on the bottom of the body.

Face: Embroider the face on with contrasting embroidery floss.

Blocking the Crochet: After Chewy’s crocheted, you will probably have to block him to keep his limbs and body from curling up. I used a scrap of corrugated cardboard, a few straight pins, and a splash of water. A misting of water would probably have been better, but I didn’t have anything to mist with! To block, pin the figure all stretched out the way you want it to be, get it wet, and let it dry (probably overnight).

Chewy’s Bandolier Bag: I happened to have a scrap of leather lying around, so I cut a tiny pouch-shaped piece and a strip of leather and sewed them together, and stitched them to Chewy. If you don’t have leather lying around, you can use a scrap of felt or any other non-fraying fabric to make his bandolier. Or crochet a wee pouch (and attach shiny seed beeds for the cartridges on the strap – that would be super cute!).

Making the Zipper Pull: Slip a large jump ring into the top row of stitches on Chewy’s head. Attach a zipper pull hook to the jump ring (I clamp the hook with my pliers just to make it a little harder for the hook to come out of the jump ring).

Beyond Chewy: Obviously, you can use embroidery floss to make much more than Chewbacca zipper pulls. You can crochet anything in miniature, as long as you have patience and adequate lighting! Another favorite project of mine has been tiny granny square necklaces. Maybe I’ll post about them tomorrow!

Additional Resources:

• Free amigurumi Lord of the Rings patterns from Geek Central Station
• 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet: A Collection of Beautiful Blooms for Embellishing Garments, Accessories, and More by Lesley Stanfield – a cool book with lots of pretty flower patterns. You can use embroidery floss to crochet or knit them!
• Star Wars Crafts on the Official Star Wars Blog
• More Star Wars Dollar Store Crafts

p.s. Check out this giveaway for a free Leia Hairdo Hat PDF at Sew Can Do (drawing ends August 15, 2010)

The post Crochet a Teeny Chewbacca Zipper Pull appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

This is my last Star Wars post… for now! If you are hungry for more Star Wars crafts, be sure to visit the Star Wars Crafts community. I made some simple Star Wars finger puppets from craft felt (one of the best crafty bargains around – at about a quarter a sheet!).

You can make finger puppets in any shape or theme you want to. You can construct them from simple shapes, you can add googly eyes (or not), or button eyes. You can basically embellish them any way you want to. Great summer craft for kids!

Tips: If you have specific characters in mind (like these Star Wars guys), I recommend doing a quick sketch in your sketchbook so you know what pieces to cut out. I glued additional pieces to the backs of the heads to reinforce the puppets, since regular craft felt is not very stiff.

Project Estimate:

• 3 or more sheets of felt, about $1
• Craft glue (I used Aleene’s Quick Dry Tacky Glue), on hand
• (optional) Googly eyes, on hand or a huge pack for $1

Total: $1 and up

The post Make Star Wars Finger Puppets appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Here’s Star Wars craft number three! I made a reusable grocery tote in the style of a Morsbag, with a little Jedi twist. I used Jedi robe colors to make the bag, and added a Yoda head applique cut from a scrap of a fleece dollar store blanket. [click here for Morsbag pattern and instructions as well as to learn MORE about this awesome reusable grocery bagging movement: did you know over ONE MILLION plastic bags are consumed per minute globally?]

This is a very simple sewing project that makes a sturdy bag suitable for carrying groceries, books, crafting supplies, or any odds and ends you desire! Adding the applique is a simple matter of cutting a piece out of felt, pinning it to a piece of fabric, and sewing around the edges. Since the applique is fleece, no finishing of the edges is required.

Project Estimate:

• Scrap from a fleece blanket, on hand or $1
• Scrap fabric, about half a yard, on hand
• Buttons, on hand

Total: FREE and up

This is probably my favorite of all the Star Wars crafts I made. I just love the whole effect of the bag. It’s totally simple, but it just works for me.

And while we’re talking about totes, I’ll just show you this other tote I made because I don’t want to devote a separate post to it. I used part of the vintage Star Wars sheet I found to make a reversible tote.

The tote reverses to plain blue, but who’d want to use that side, seriously? I decided to make it reversible to reinforce it since the sheet is old and well-worn.

The post Make a Reusable Grocery Tote – Yoda Style! appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Ever have small pieces of fabric that aren’t big enough to make what you want, but you can’t bear to throw away? There are lots of projects that make use of scraps to make little things, but you can also use scraps to make larger things! How? By sewing scraps together patchwork-style to create a new, larger piece of fabric.

This is the second installment in my Star Wars crafts series! I recently made a few Star Wars-y items for a craft swap, and I was WISHING for a Star Wars sheet (in fact, I asked if they had any in stock at my favorite craft thrift store – yes, there is such a thing! If you’re ever in Portland, OR, you MUST visit Knittn Kitten), but I know that you never find something like that at thrift stores when you really NEED it. And then I was rummaging around in my garage and FOUND ONE!! I had one in my stash of scrap fabric dedicated to making Morsbags (reusable grocery bags). I had no idea it was in there, but I was so excited when it surfaced!

So, in order to squeeze every precious drop of Star Wars goodness from the sheet, I used a scrap of it that I had off-cut when making another project to make a scrappy bib. This is a very simple project that you can use up all your lovely scraps on! You can also use this technique to make nearly anything else you can think of!

The process is simple: sew scraps together in a sheet until you get a piece of fabric large enough to cut your pattern pieces out of.

Project Estimate:

• Scraps, on hand
• Small square of Velcro-type tape, on hand
• Sewing machine, thread, etc., on hand

Total: FREE

For the bib, I sewed two Jedi robe-colored fabric scraps together for the back, and a piece of the sheet and a brown scrap for the front.

Iron any seams on the patchwork sheet flat (doesn’t look like I ironed this seam very well!)

Place your pattern piece (in my case, I used a bib we had on hand) on top of the patchwork sheet and cut out. I left a half-inch seam allowance around mine.

Pin pieces right sides together and sew around, leaving a two-inch gap on one of the straight sides for turning.

Turn bib right-side out. Press edges (make sure open gap is folded under neatly like the rest of the edges), and topstitch around edges, sealing the open gap closed.

Add squares of Velcro-type hook and loop tape to top of bib.

You’re done! You’ve made a reversible scrappy bib, and it only took you about 20 minutes!

The post Make a Scrappy Bib: Tutorial appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

I recently took part in a Star Wars crafting swap on Craftster.org. While I was working on another project, I came up with this idea, using a green fleece blanket from the dollar store that I found in my arsenal of dollar store crafting supplies. The Yoda hat is a quick and easy project, and you can make three or four of them from one dollar store blanket, making them quite the bargain!

Project Estimate:

• Fleece blanket, $1
• Buttons, on hand
• Sewing machine, thread, etc., on hand

Total: $1

To Cut:

• For each “ear” – 2 long triangular pieces (4 pieces total)
• 2 half-oval shaped pieces about 10 inches wide
• 2 rectangular pieces about 10×3 inches

To Make:

1. Sew triangular pieces together, right sides together, then turn right-side out.
2. Lay one half-oval piece fleece side up.
3. Lay ear pieces on top of half-oval, facing in, with raw edges.
4. Lay other half-oval piece fleece side down on top of ear pieces.

5. Pin around curved edges, and sew around curved edges.
6. Turn right-side out.

7. Sew rectangular pieces together at short edges (make sure you lay them right sides together before you sew).
8. Slip top piece inside rectangular sewn pieces, make sure right sides are facing each other.
9. Pin rectangular pieces to the bottom of the top piece.

10. Sew around pinned area.
11. Hem bottom edge of hat.
12. Add button eyes.

My son is modeling the hat for us. It’s a bit big for a toddler. Adjust measurements if making hat for kiddos.

Stay tuned for my other Star Wars crafts! I have four more to share with you, and one more full tutorial!

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